He said he believed that the traditional dish was actually a horse’s penis, but the remark offended and angered his co-workers. He told the newspaper that he was smuggled out of the Kumtor gold mine after being informed that an “angry lynch mob” was coming to get him.

After a nine-hour journey, during which he claims the vehicle in which he was travelling was “rammed” by two cars, McFeat was arrested by police at Manas airport near Bishkek and held under racial hatred laws.

“The police told me my act could send Kyrgyzstan to war with the UK,” he said. After a court appearance and an apology, McFeat was driven to the airport to board a flight to Edinburgh.

“I was told there was a 17-page petition demanding I be jailed, and the mine went on strike after I left, so they were making an example of me,” McFeat told the Sunday Post. “I’ve always been up for a joke, but this was one time I wasn’t joking and it’s been blown out of proportion.”